Listening to this now. Well worth a listen, great interview. Anyone know more about the story that he told about the Ache Indians of Paraguay?
If you haven’t listened, basically when R.E.M. signed for Warner Bros. they had it written into their contract that Warners would buy an area of land in Paraguay that was under threat of deforestation in order to preserve it for the indigenous Ache people who lived there. I’d never heard that story. Would love to know more.
Man, I love that band.
Eek! It was going so well, then it ends with the inevitable reunion question. Ah well, the rest of it was good. Great answer from Mike to the question, though…
Podcast ends with a lovely new song from Big Thief. Reunion question instantly forgiven…
boygenius puts me in mind of R.E.M. a good bit with their social/political activism as well as the blessing of the land where they’re performing by indigenous peoples. Saying that, I know that sort of thing is not unique to R.E.M. but it sure put me in mind of them.
I totally get what you mean. The two bands occupy similar territory in my musical brain map even though they don’t necessarily sound alike. The whole socially conscious artful folk influenced indie rock with poetic obscurity and introspection thing I guess
Mike was a saint for putting up with Josh’s dumb and disrespectful comments. I guess show prep isn’t something Josh or his staff do. Weaver D’s is a pizza chain?! WTF?! Then Josh gets worse when he insults “Everybody Hurts,” which is probably one if the most moving R.E.M. songs and has been cited as helping people cope with and get help for their depression. Josh made some other ridiculous comments too. Fortunately, I don’t remember them. Again, I give Mike so much credit for keeping it classy. Someone had to.